As the Resident artist for Liquitex I often find myself embarking on some interesting travels as was recently the case when I visited Sydney, Australia, to work with our Artist Outreach Programme Artists Down Under.
I flew from New Jersey to Los Angeles and then it really hit me that I still had another 16 hour flight to get through! Although long, the flight wasn’t as bad as I expected; it was the jet lag that really did me in. O.K., I know, you’re thinking really Jimmy, you’re complaining about jet lag? You’re in Australia mate, toughen up. It was St. Patrick’s Day so I did toughen up and promptly found my way to the Mercantile Hotel (the oldest Irish pub in Australia) where festivities were in full swing. The pub is located in a section of the city known as The Rocks where the first European settlers landed. For a Yank like me that would be the equivalent of Plymouth Rock. The Rocks is also home to many galleries and museums which feature aboriginal and traditional art as well as the location of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). Speaking of rocks, after a day of exploring I found myself sleeping like one.
After a bit of a rest I climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a fantastic view of the city a day before its 80th birthday. After that it was time to actually get to work. I met with members of the Australian Artist Outreach Program which is similar to the one in the States. I come from a college teaching background and you never know what kind of class you’ll get but this group of Aussies and a few Kiwis too were fantastic. Everyone was excited about the great effects that can be created with the mediums that Liquitex has to offer. I demonstrated techniques intermixing different viscosities, from inks through to heavy body, and everyone got involved, trying the products themselves. The new Liquitex Professional Spray Paint was a great hit!
You can’t visit Sydney without checking out some of the great sites the city has to offer. I managed to visit the iconic Sydney Opera House, stroll through the botanical gardens and also visit the conservation lab of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which works to prevent or repair damage. While doing all of that stuff I took a ton of photos and collected lots of material as I always do when I’m on the road so I can make my mixed media collages which are often based on my travel experiences.
The first collage based on my Australian experience is titled “The Difference Between Us” and was started using Liquitex Professional Sprays to tone the canvas with a light mist of color. Matte Gel was then used to adhere the different images I had collected during my trip to the canvas and a variety of Heavy Body and Soft Body colors were used to accentuate the images and the patterns that relate to the Aboriginal culture. The new Liquitex Professional Spray paint is water-based so there’s no concern about mixing with the Liquitex tube colors and mediums; everything is compatible. The title came about because in my conversations with Australians it occurred to me that although there are differences between our cultures there are also many parallels between our countries in regards to colonization and indigenous people. The word “difference” in the title also refers to the difference between Europeans and native people in each country and the class struggles that come with native cultures that become diminished to the point of becoming a footnote in history.
All in all I had some memorable experiences in Oz and felt inspired by the amazing and differing landscapes and cultures.
Until next time,
Jimmy Leslie